Ex-Army Colonel Weeps As He's Convicted On Child Porn Charges

A former colonel who once led the U.S. Army’s strategic war gaming division was sentenced to 12 years in prison Dec. 28 for possessing and distributing child pornography.

Robert Rice, 58, wept as he heard his sentence, which also includes a $5,100 fine and 10 years of supervised release after he gets out of prison, People magazine said.

Rice was convincted of knowingly possessing child porn from 2010 through early 2013, and distributing child porn through the internet in early 2013.

According to Army Times, the colonel was turned in to the authorities by his wife, who installed tracking software on his computer because she thought he was having an affair. She found evidence of cheating, but also explicit images of children and messages in which Rice discussed exchanging child porn and hiding evidence of it.

The colonel also received a four-year sentence for child porn charges from a recent military court-martial, which will run concurrently to his other prison sentence. He is currently imprisoned at Fort Leavenworth Prison in Kansas.

Colonels are high ranking army officials, only below general officers. Rice was discharged after 37 years in the military in 2013, when he was first charged with possessing child porn.